


In the Cold of Night

by Settiai



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Pre-Het, The Black Emporium Exchange, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26343100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: It was going to be night soon.
Relationships: Solas/Female Trevelyan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20
Collections: Black Emporium 2020





	In the Cold of Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sneaky_Apostate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sneaky_Apostate/gifts).



Lorelei shivered, pulling her cloak more tightly around her as another biting cold wind blew past.

She could barely focus on anything but putting one foot in front of the other, her mind slowly but sure retreating into the same blankness that she'd found comfort in during those long, freezing hours after Haven had been destroyed. It wasn't quite the same. The clothing she was wearing was thicker, actually meant for the cold, unlike the much thinner garments she'd been wearing in the aftermath of that attack. Not to mention she wasn't alone this time.

Still, her mind couldn't help but find the parallels, especially as the sun kept sinking in the distance. It was going to be night soon, and she had no idea how she was going to find the strength to keep pressing forward.

Lorelei glanced upwards at the cliff walls towering above them. The entire right side of her body was aching, and she knew that her skin was probably one large bruise under her armor. Still, she couldn't help but count her blessings. Considering just how far she'd fallen when the ground had disappeared out from under her feet, she was lucky not to have broken her neck in the process.

So was Solas, for that matter, although he seemed to be doing his best to pretend that the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. She wasn't surprised by that, of course. That's what he did. He acted as if everything was fine even when it wasn't, either until things _were_ fine again or there was no possible way to keep pretending otherwise.

When she'd first met him, she'd found it annoying. Now? It was just one of his many quirks that she couldn't help but be impressed with. He was a constant, and she needed that as much as possible nowadays.

Still, that didn't change the fact that it was freezing cold and steadily getting darker. And, while the path they were on was moving uphill, it was at a slow enough pace that she knew without a doubt there was no way they'd be able to rejoin the others at the top of the cliff before full dark.

It was hard enough pushing on as it was, forcing her feet to keep making step after step, and she honestly wasn't certain she'd be able to continue on for much longer. Especially not once the sun was completely gone. Neither of the moons was in a particularly full phase, and the stars could only do so much when it came to providing light.

But what else was there to do? They had some supplies on them, but the majority of what they'd brought were either with Cassandra, Dorian, and Varric somewhere far above them or buried under a fair bit of snow and rocks a few hours' worth of travel behind them. They weren't particularly in a position to put up a camp for the night, what with them not having any tents or other camping supplies on them.

They wasn't really any good options.

It said a lot about just how distracted her state of mind was that Lorelei didn't even notice that Solas had stopped walking ahead of her until she actually walked into his back. She let out a startled yelp as she bumped into him, all but jumping back as she realized what she'd done. Her foot landed wrong, something shifting underneath it, and she would have gone sprawling to the ground if Solas hadn't reached out to grab her arm.

Lorelei grimaced as his fingers wrapped tightly around the mass of bruises that she was almost certain were hidden under her armor.

He let go almost as quickly as he'd grabbed her, just as soon as he was certain that she'd caught her balance, and immediately turned his gaze towards the distant horizon instead of her. Everything happened so quickly that Lorelei would have thought it had all been in her imagination if it wasn't for the fact that her heart was racing as if she'd just finished a race.

"You should pay more attention, Trevelyan," Solas said, the chastisement hitting her almost like a blow. It was made worse by the fact that he barely even glanced at her, his attention clearly more focused on the path ahead of them. "The last thing we need is for you to take another fall."

Lorelei could practically feel her face go red. Or, at least, she would have if she hadn't already been half frozen. "I'm sorry," she said, trying not to let any of the hurt or embarrassment she was feeling slip into her voice. "I was just—" She cut off, the excuses she'd been about to give suddenly tasting that ashes in her mouth. "My apologies. It won't happen again."

Solas went still, which said a lot considering she'd thought he was already pretty motionless as it was. Then he looked towards her, something flickering across his face that she wasn't quite certain how to interpret.

He was looking at her like she was a puzzle that he was trying to unravel. She wasn't quite certain how to feel about that. Especially since, while she was fairly certain she was a mess, he looked just the same as always. If she hadn't been right beside him when it had happened, she would have had no idea that he'd gone tumbling down a cliff just a few hours earlier.

Another breeze blew past, this one even colder than the last, and Lorelei couldn't help but shiver. The movement made her already aching side hurt even more, and she couldn't quite stop a flinch. She closed her eyes and took a few shallow breaths, breathing through the pain. When she opened them again, Solas was still standing in the exact same position with the same unreadable look on his face.

"We should keep moving," Lorelei said, trying to keep her voice as steady as she could. "It's going to be dark soon, and my eyesight isn't nearly as good as yours at night."

That was enough to push Solas out of whatever spell he'd been caught up in. He turned his gaze away from her, focusing instead on the steep cliff walls that surrounded them on both sides. There was a small stream running alongside them, but it was completely frozen over, and the handful of small trees and bushes alongside it were nothing but dark skeletons in the dim light.

"We're going to need to find shelter," Solas said slowly. Reluctantly, even. It sounded as if he didn't particularly think it was a good idea but was saying it anyway. Because of her.

It took a lot of effort for Lorelei not to flinch again, and this time there wasn't any physical pain behind it. This was why she'd been so reluctant when they had insisted on making her the Inquisitor. If she couldn't even handle a hike, how was she supposed to run the Inquisition?

"I can keep going," she said, shaking her head. "As long as you can keep leading the way, we don't have to stop. I won't slow us down."

Solas shot her an unamused look that made her feel as if she was nothing more than a schoolgirl. "Your lips are turning blue."

This time, Lorelei couldn't stop her flinch.

"We should keep moving," Solas said, turning away from her. "We need to find a cave, preferably before it gets too dark."

She swallowed a couple of times, until she was certain the lump she could feel in her throat wouldn't stop her from speaking properly. "Lead the way."

*

The small shelter they'd found barely even qualified as a cave. It was more of an outcropping, only just big enough to block out most of the wind that had been steadily picking up over the past hour or so. Still, it was better than nothing, and Lorelei had no intention of complaining.

Especially since it was her fault Solas had felt that they needed to stop for the night instead of pressing onward. 

Lorelei wrapped the thin blanket she'd pulled from her bag more tightly around her, trying to ignore her aching side and breathe shallowly so that she didn't make her probably bruised ribs complain too much. She leaned against the rock wall to her back and side, watching as Solas carefully started a small fire at the very edge of their not-quite-a-cave. He'd positioned it carefully so that it was inside the stone walls enough for the wind not to blow it out immediately but close enough to the edges that the smoke would have somewhere to escape to. 

It wasn't much, nothing like the roaring campfires they usually set up when they stopped for the night, but the moment that the small pile of wood went up in flames she couldn't help but lean just a little closer to it. The warmth coming out of it felt divine.

Solas glanced at her, frowning, and she quickly leaned away from the fire. She still felt off-kilter, just like she had ever since the pathway she'd been following at the top of the cliffside had suddenly crumbled under her feet, and the last thing she wanted was to alienate the only person still with her.

Lorelei would be the first to admit that she wasn't good with, well, people. She never knew what to say, and when she did speak the words would come out jumbled or so quiet that most people wouldn't even notice that she'd said anything. She didn't know if everything that had happened to her recent was really the Maker's doing or someone else's entirely, but she couldn't help but think that whoever it was must have a horrible sense of humor to put her in a position where everyone's eyes were on her.

"How badly are you hurt?"

She blinked, pulling herself out of her mind and back to the present at Solas's quiet question. He'd shifted so that he was sitting only a foot or so away from her, his legs crossed under him as he stared at her. There was something new on his face, an expression that looked suspiciously like concern, and she wasn't quite certain how to react to that.

And she still hadn't answered his question, had she?

Lorelei shook her head. "I've had worse," she said. She almost shrugged but aborted that movement before it had barely even began as pretty much her entire body protested.

If anything, Solas looked more serious. His mouth twisted into an actual frown. "That's not very reassuring," he replied, "nor is it an answer to my question."

She furrowed her brow for a moment before letting it smooth out again as realization struck her. It was easy to forget sometimes that Solas had been the one who'd watched her after she'd fell out of the Fade in the aftermath of the Temple of Sacred Ashes's destruction. _He means 'I kept that mark from killing you while you slept.'_

Lorelei had never really thought about what kind of shape she must have been in when they'd found her back then, in those days that she still had no memory of and probably never would. Judging by the look on Solas's face, though, it must have been even worse than she'd realized.

She sighed. "I'm fairly certain I'm just bruised," she said, slowly and carefully gesturing to her right side with her head. "Maybe some scrapes too, but mostly just bruises."

Solas kept staring at her for a long moment, and it felt almost as if he was looking straight inside her soul to try and tell if she was being honest. Then he nodded and held up his hand, which lit up with a faint glow. "May I?"

Lorelei blinked once or twice before her mind kicked in and she realized that he was asking for permission to use his magic on her. She bit her lip. "You don't have to waste your mana on me," she said. "I mean it, I've had—"

"May I?" Solas repeated, cutting her off before she could begin babbling too much.

She sighed and nodded. "If you think it's necessary, then I won't argue."

The corner of his mouth twitched, almost like he was trying to hide a smile, and he reached his hand forward. She forced herself not to react as he slowly and carefully slipped his hand under a loose part of her armor, well aware from past experience that healing magic worked better when it was skin against skin. A wave of warmth rushed through her, pushing back again the chill that had been her constant companion for hours now, and she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as the dull, never-ending pain she'd been feeling ever since she fell suddenly faded away.

"I told you it wasn't that bad," she said quietly as he pulled his hand away.

Solas shrugged. "It was bad enough," he said. "We'll be able to move faster in the morning with them healed."

Lorelei was able to keep from visibly reacting this time, the lack of pain she was feeling making it easier to school her reaction. Something must have leaked through into her expression, though, because Solas's face darkened.

"I didn't mean that as a chastisement," Solas said. "I'm impressed you made it as far as you did, all things considered. You should have said something."

She glanced away, not able to meet his gaze. "You fell as far as I did and didn't seem worse for the wear."

Solas let out a tired-sounding sigh. "That's because I used magic to help shield me as I was falling," he shot back, more impatience than she was used to hearing from him slipping into his voice. "If I hadn't, I'm sure that I would have been in much worse shape."

Lorelei blinked. That... actually made quite a bit of sense, now that he'd said it. "Oh," she said quietly, glancing back towards him. That unreadable look was back on his face. "I hadn't thought of that."

He reached up to rub the bridge of his nose, and for just a moment she could see just how utterly exhausted he looked. Then, just like that, his mask was back up and he looked like he always did. "Inquisitor," he said, "I need you to tell me if you're injured. At least until we meet back up with the others. It's just the two of us here, and I can't help you if you don't tell me that you need help." 

She gave him a small nod. "I will," she agreed.

Something that looked like relief danced across his face, there and gone so quickly that she almost thought it was a trick of the light. Then he nodded back. "Good," he said. "Now, you should try to get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Lorelei pulled her thin blanket more tightly around her. "Of course," she said. "Goodnight, Solas."

He gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Goodnight, Inquisitor."

*

Lorelei wasn't certain what it was that woke her up. One minute she was dreaming, her mind transported back to the field of flowers that she vaguely remembered from her childhood, and the next she was staring up into the darkness of the stone outcropping they'd made camp in for the night.

She stayed where she was for a moment, not wanting to move if there was something wrong. The fire was clearly still burning, judging by the lights and shadows playing along the stone walls, and she was significantly warmer than she had been when she'd fallen asleep. Surprisingly warmer, in fact.

She shifted slightly, running her hands along her blanket. There was a second one on top of it, just as thin as hers, but combined the two of them made for fairly decent protection against the cold. But where...

... and that was a foolish question, wasn't it?

Lorelei pushed herself up into a sitting position and turned towards the fire, trying to move as slowly and quietly as possible. She needn't have bothered. Solas was staring at the flames, his mind clearly a million miles away from their small campsite.

He was also noticeably shivering in the cold.

She let out a quiet sigh, fighting back the urge to point out his hypocrisy. She'd picked up a fair bit over the long months since she'd first met him, and she was well aware all that would do would push him into being defensive.

"You need to get some sleep too, you know," Lorelei said quietly.

Solas startled, his gaze jerking in her direction, and for just a moment his mask slipped. Not for the first time, she wondered just how old he was. Sometimes he seemed ancient, as if he was some type of wise elder who'd seen everything, but at other times he came across as barely much older than her.

This was one of the latter.

The mask went right back into place almost instantly, but there were cracks in it. That in itself told Lorelei just how tired and cold and probably sore he had to be. Well, mostly. The dark shadows slowly making their way under his eyes helped.

"Someone has to keep watch," Solas said, shaking his head. "Besides, I don't need a lot of sleep."

She snorted at that. "Solas," she said, rolling a bit so that she could crawl the handful of feet needed to move closer to both him and the fire, "I've literally seen you spend the entire day in bed back in Skyhold."

He shifted in place. "That's different."

"No, it's really not," she said. Then, against her better judgement, she added: "Like you said, it's just the two of us here. It goes both ways. You help me, and I help you. Right?"

For a long moment, she thought she'd pushed too far. Solas's eyes went distant again, like they'd been when she first looked towards him after waking up. Then he blinked, and it was like it had never happened.

"I suppose that I would have seen something by now if there was any immediate danger," he agreed reluctantly.

Lorelei smiled. "That's the spirit," she said, leaning forward to press a quick kiss against his cheek. "Now come on. We'll share the blankets."

She was a little startled to see his face flush red as she pulled away. Before she could comment, though, he turned away from her and focused his gaze back on the fire.

"I can stay here by the fire," Solas said. "You can keep the blankets."

Lorelei knew she wasn't particularly talented with words, not like Solas was. He could run laps around her in that regard on a good day, and this was far from being one of those. If there was one thing she'd learned over the years, though, it was that actions spoke louder than words.

Without saying a thing, she slid a little closer to him so that she was all but leaning against his side. Then she threw the blanket over both their shoulders.

Beside her, Solas went utterly still.

Slowly and carefully, trying not to startle him, Lorelei leaned in so that their arms were pressing against each other. Then she turned her head so that it was resting on his shoulder, her hand moving to find his even though she was careful not to do anything but rest hers on top of his.

For a long moment, Solas didn't say or do anything. He simply sat there, as still and unmoving as if he was carved out of stone.

Then, without warning, he suddenly relaxed. She felt his hand shift under hers, turning just enough for him to intertwine their fingers.

"Fine," he said, and Lorelei knew she wasn't imagining the reluctant amusement in his voice, "we can share the blankets."

Solas squeezed her hand and, with a smile, she squeezed back.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Twitter. (https://twitter.com/settiai)


End file.
